A New Hope
by ANGELS-APOCALYPSE
Summary: Hope has lost all hope in their current situation. Vanille will she be able to talk hope back into him, or will he continue to fall into despair?


Final Fantasy XIII

**A New Hope**

Hope sat silently on a steep cliff watching the bright burning horizon. It was the end of his fourth day on Pulse and no sign of civilisation was anywhere to be found. Ruins of cities long destroyed were the only evidence that humans once inhabited the forsaken lands of Pulse.

The Sun slowly descended behind the earthly mountains, darkening the endless green plains. Titanic Oretoises treaded heavily through the twilight fields. An extensive brilliant yellow flock of Chocobos dashed towards a slight pass in the cliffs. The lands of Pulse were quietening, reading itself for the coming night.

Shadows had cast themselves on Hope. His previous life was long gone, and what he was experiencing now was barely recognisable as one. The Brand that was planted on his wrist tugged at him every moment of the day. The fear of becoming a Cie'th had taken over his thoughts. The idea of becoming a crystal wasn't even thought of; the prerequisite being the destruction of Cocoon shattered any hope of that ever occurring. Hope was ironically without hope.

"There you are!" Exclaimed a bright female voice behind him. Startled, Hope spun around. Standing there was Vanille. Her fiery red hair was loosely tied in pigtails like it normally was, with the ends curling. She wore a bright smile as she skipped over to him.

"We've been looking for you." She said. She jumped down next to him and looked out at the view he was watching.

"They are?" Hope asked, almost disappointedly. Vanille picked up on this and looked at him questioningly.

"What do you mean?" She inquired.

"Maybe it's…maybe it's better if I stay behind. It's not like I'm any help." Hope said, almost to himself.

"No!" Vanille almost shouted. She quickly knelt in front of him. "You have to come! We need you!"

"No you don't. I'm not like the rest of you. I can't fight or find supplies or do anything the rest of you can. I'm useless." Hope explained in a sad tone. He dropped his head and closed his eyes, feeling tears beginning to build. Vanille started at him with an annoyed expression till she noticed his hand. More specifically the Brand on it, which had begun to light up and brighten.

Knowing this meant the summoning of an Eidolon, she raised her hand and lightly slapped his cheek. " Well get over it!" She said angrily. "Think any of us are feeling any better?"

"All I'm gonna do is slow you guys down." He raised his head to look Vanille in the eyes. "I don't want you to get hurt because of me." He gasped and moved his sight to his active Brand.

Vanille touched his shoulder. "And we won't. Don't worry. If things get too bad, I'll come save you." Hope took his sight off his Brand and looked at her again.

"Promise?" Hope asked. His brand was brighter than ever.

"Promise." Vanille agreed. Hope felt his whole arm burn. He watched as the light that illuminated from his Brand dimmed till it had disappeared completely, leaving only the Brand.

"That was close." Said Vanille. Hope looked at her, thinking the same thing.

"Yeah, thanks" Hope said softly.

He stared at her, losing himself in her strikingly green eyes. Vanille too gazed into him. Leisurely, Vanille leaned in close. Her warm lips pressed gently against Hopes. Both of their hearts begun to beat fast. Hope tenderly put his gloved hand on Vanilles cheek.

Hope drew back, his hand still on her cheek. "We better get back, the others will be wondering where we are."

Vanille nodded, albeit a little disappointed. "We can do this again, right?" She asked, hopeful.

"Of course." He happily replied. He stood up and offered her his hand. She gladly took it. He pulled her up and together, they walked off. Hand in hand. Whether or not their future was to be a Cie'th or crystal or just plain death, until that time, they had each other.

My first fanfic in ages. So tell me what you think. Do you hate it? Do you love it? Do you like the idea but hate the execution? Do you like parts of it and hate others? Tell me this. If you want, I could write another chapter or two, but that may take a few days, trying to get over writers block.

I began writing this 5 days ago, I was sick so I only got the first three paragraphs done. Then I just had a total writers block till last night when I finally got the damn thing done. I spent all day today just fixing the damn thing up. So yeah, took me quite a while to do a one-shot.

**For those who care, I have several fics in progress. A Resident Evil one, a Final Fantasy XIII and a Final Fantasy Versus XIII. If you are interested in any of those, I am writing them. It may be a while before I post them however, since I now only post multi-chapter fics when at least the first draft is complete.** **So yeah, till next time.**


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